Bill Text: NY A04920 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Prohibits digital advertisers from establishing a virtual "geofence" around a health care facility that enables the advertiser to send targeted advertisements to any cellphones or mobile devices that enter such health care facility; prohibits the delivery of digital advertisements to persons in a health care facility using geofencing technology.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to consumer affairs and protection [A04920 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A04920-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          4920

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 27, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL, DINOWITZ, SIMON, SEAWRIGHT, KELLES,
          FORREST,  SILLITTI  --  read  once  and  referred  to the Committee on
          Consumer Affairs and Protection

        AN ACT to amend the general business law,  in  relation  to  prohibiting
          geofencing by digital advertisers at health care facilities

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section
     2  396-aaaa to read as follows:
     3    § 396-aaaa. Prohibition on geofencing. 1.   For the purposes  of  this
     4  section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
     5    a.  "Digital  advertiser" shall mean any person, corporation, partner-
     6  ship or association that delivers digital advertisements  by  electronic
     7  means.
     8    b.  "Digital  advertisement" shall include any communication delivered
     9  by electronic means that is intended to be  used  for  the  purposes  of
    10  marketing,   solicitation,  or  dissemination  of  information  related,
    11  directly or indirectly, to goods or services  provided  by  the  digital
    12  advertiser or a third party.
    13    c.  "Delivered by electronic means" shall include delivery to an elec-
    14  tronic mail address, posting on an electronic network or site accessible
    15  via the internet, mobile application, computer, mobile  device,  tablet,
    16  or any other electronic device used by a natural person.
    17    d. "Geofencing" shall mean the process of identifying whether a device
    18  enters, exits, or is present within a geographic area through the use of
    19  any information stored, transmitted, or received by such device, includ-
    20  ing  but  not  limited to latitude, longitude, global positioning system
    21  coordinates, internet protocol address, wireless internet access  infor-
    22  mation, Bluetooth technology, near-field communication information, cell
    23  tower  connectivity, device identification information, and/or any other
    24  form of location detection.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03292-01-3

        A. 4920                             2

     1    e. "Health care facility" shall mean any governmental or private agen-
     2  cy, department, institution, clinic, laboratory,  hospital,  physician's
     3  office,  nursing care facility, health maintenance organization, associ-
     4  ation or other similar entity that  provides  medical  care  or  related
     5  services  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of the public health law or the
     6  mental hygiene law, including the building or  structure  in  which  the
     7  facility is located.
     8    f. "User" shall mean a natural person who owns or uses a mobile device
     9  or  any  other  connected electronic device capable of receiving digital
    10  advertisements.
    11    g. "Vicinity" shall mean within two hundred fifty feet of the  perime-
    12  ter of a health care facility.
    13    2. a. It shall be unlawful for any person, corporation, partnership or
    14  association  to deliver by electronic means any digital advertisement to
    15  a user through the use of  geofencing  or  a  similar  virtual  boundary
    16  created  around  or  within  the vicinity of any health care facility as
    17  defined in paragraph e of subdivision one of this section.
    18    b. It shall be unlawful for any person,  corporation,  partnership  or
    19  association  to  establish a geofence or similar virtual boundary around
    20  or within the vicinity of any health care facility for  the  purpose  of
    21  delivering  by  electronic means a digital advertisement to a user in or
    22  within the vicinity of such  health  care  facility,  building  consumer
    23  profiles,  or inferring the health status, medical condition, or medical
    24  treatment of any person.
    25    § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day  after  it  shall
    26  have become a law.
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